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Never Too Late (Three Days Grace song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Never Too Late'" is a song by the Canadian band Three Days Grace. It is the third single from the band's second album 'One-X'.
Popularity and censorship
Chart performance
The song reached the number one spot on the Canadian MuchMusic Countdown on June 29 for one week. It also reached the top of the 'Billboard' Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. This is the band's most successful song from 'One-X', despite the fact that their prior hits "Just Like You" (from their self-titled album), "Animal I Have Become", "Pain" and a few singles that were less successful did better on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 chart. This is due to "Never Too Late" peaking at number 71, where "Just Like You" peaked at number 55, "Animal I Have Become" at number 60 and "Pain" at number 44. Despite not hitting number one on the Alternative Airplay chart, it was more successful than any of the singles from 'One-X' and stayed longer on the charts than their number one hits at 43 weeks, beating "Animal I Have Become" by two weeks and "Pain" by a hefty 13 weeks. It is the band's second most successful song only behind "I Hate Everything About You" on the rock charts at 45 weeks.The song is also the band's only cross-over hit to date charting on both the Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Top 40 formats at number 12 and number 13 respectively. The song peaked at number 30 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.
Radio censorship
The track managed to resurge in pop airplay, peaking at number 14 on Mediabase, and was added by the pop stations in the US, Z100 and Y100. It is the only song to be released to Mainstream Top 40 radio since their 2003 hit "I Hate Everything About You" peaked at number 28 and "Never Too Late" hit number 12. Certain radio stations and Sirius XM The Pulse play a version of the song which censors the phrase "end your life" in the chorus to "change your life" to eliminate the suicide reference from the song. It also quiets the heaviness of the guitar.Other versions
On October 23, 2007, Three Days Grace released a single featuring "Never Too Late" and two Clear Channel acoustic recordings of "Pain" and "I Hate Everything About You". On February 12, 2008, an EP was released through iTunes containing the album version of "Never Too Late", an acoustic version and the music video.Song meaning and usage
This song's meaning was explained by former Three Days Grace frontman, Adam Gontier, at a live performance on March 7, 2007 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., where he stated, "This song is about being in a very dark place, but being able to see a way out." Then, on the 'Live at the Palace 2008' DVD, he explained it as, "Feeling like you don't really belong here anymore, and it's about wanting to sort of end everything. But really, this song is about not giving up at all." As well as a small statement about him and his little sisters toxic life at home with their father.
The song was featured in a promo for the television show 'Eleventh Hour'.
Music video
The video begins with a little girl (played by Matreya Fedor) in her room dancing with her parents. This child is portrayed to be Adam Gontier's younger sister, Katelynn Gontier. Later, it shows her older self (played by Adam Gontier's then-wife, Naomi Brewer) struggling against doctors as they strap her down to a hospital bed. As they restrain her, the woman looks toward her younger self dancing with her parents (through the woman's eyes, her young-self appears to have sprouted or be wearing monarch butterfly wings on her back while dancing). The video then cuts to her younger self, showing a man touching her and she smiles hesitantly. The video shows her dancing with her parents, who have bandages over their eyes, signifying that they don't know what is going on. Later, hands marks covered in a black substance are seen all over her, her bedroom, and the man's hand. It is revealed that she was sexually abused as a child, explaining her traumatic breakdown when she is older. As the woman remains strapped helplessly to her hospital bed, the straps from head-to-toe are replaced with the man's hands. Her younger self is shown again; hiding in her room from her attacker, who lifts up the bed to find the girl lying in a fetal position when she sees an angel who fights off the man, scattering his feathers over the girl's room in the process. This was explained to be Adam fighting off his dad from hurting his sister, as Adam and his sister were living in a bad environment at home in their childhood. As the angel's feathers rain down on the grown woman's bed and the man's hands in place of the straps lose their grip on her and die (in reference of the attacker's defeat by the angel), eventually her older self is able to overcome her fear and leaves the hospital bed smiling, while her younger self goes back to her own bed.
The music video was directed by Tony Petrossian and has 246 million views on YouTube as of August 2022.
Awards and nominations
The song was nominated for 2 awards at the 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards for "Best Video" and "Best Rock Video". The song won a BDS Certified Spin Award based on the 100,000 spins it received in November 2007. The song was listed in Loudwire's "66 Best Hard Rock Songs of the 21st Century" in 2020.
Track listing
Credits and personnel
Credits for "Never Too Late" adapted from AllMusic.
'Musicians'
*Adam Gontier lead vocals, acoustic guitar
*Barry Stock lead guitar
*Brad Walst bass
*Neil Sanderson drums, backing vocals
'Production'
*Howard Benson - producer
*Gavin Brown - producer
*Michael Tedesco - A&R
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
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